In 2010, Artistic Director Menaka Thakkar created her most memorable choreographic work, Gita Govinda, which is a complete dance interpretation of India’s best known poetic classic under the same name, “Gita Govinda”, which has stood unrivalled in Sanskrit literature since the 12th century when it was written by the legendary poet Jayadeva of Orissa in India. This poetic classic was a favourite source of Menaka’s Guruji’s (Padma Vibhushana Kelucharan Mohapatra’s) own inspiration behind many of his most memorable dance compositions. The poetry of Gita Govinda is brilliant, lyrical, and enchanting. For the last eight centuries, it has held the imagination of a whole race with its sensuousness, musicality, and passionate imagery and stimulated the creativity of artists in a variety of art forms, such as painting, music and dance, particularly, Odissi dance. Its theme is the love between Lord Krishna and Radha. Symbolically it is perhaps the deeply compelling search of a human being for his/her soul and a longing to merge with it. In its outer expression, however, the poem blends the moods of devotion and erotic love and delineates the passionate love of Krishna and Radha as it develops through various stages. The integration of sensuality and spirituality imbedded in Gita Govinda reflects the Vaishnavite path of Hinduism to God. It was in 1976 that Menaka had first created a solo version of this two-hour long work, for her own dancing, and she continued to perform it until 2010 when she decided to transform it into a group work for eight dancers.. In so doing, she had been inspired by her Guruji’s own choreography of the individual Ashtapadis of this long poem. Although the central focus was on dance, her work in its totality was supported by her brother, Rasesh Thakkar’s script and his intermittent voice-over narration in English as well as the reading in Sanskrit of some of the most enchanting passages from the original poem; This feature of the reworked version continues to render the story line of this ancient poem perfectly understandable and enjoyable. Taking her inspiration from the famous Kangra paintings of Gita Govinda, Canada’s foremost visual designer Ms. Cylla von Tiedemann created a lush setting for the lovers and their attending Gopi dancers where they can frolic in the forests of Vrindaban. This version was now taken up for further refinement in which Guruji’s own son, Ratikant Mohapatra, himself a highly respected choreographer and percussionist, has collaborated with Menaka. The lead role of Radha is assigned to one of India’s foremost Odissi dancers, Sujata Mohapatra, who is Guruji’s own daughter-in-law. The new version of Gita Govind began in a creative residency at The Banff Centre of Arts where all of the collaborators and dancers from India and Canada came together including Menaka’s long time music composer, Ashit Desai who was invited to provide additional music to support the transformation of the original solo into the present group work. The stage dancing of this work was captured on camera and then edited for internet streaming by Eddie Kastrau, himself a well-known Modern dancer with Danny Grossman Dance Company of Toronto. In this manner, a number of outstanding artists came together to help her offer her heart-felt tribute to the memory of her Guru. I hope you too will join her in this effort. The Gita Govinda has come to be a favorite work in the company’s repertoire and has toured across Canada and India twice and once in the United States.

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About Our CharityThe Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is known as Canada’s Premier Indian Dance Company not only because it was the first professional Indian dance company to receive funding from the Canada Council but also because of its reputation for excellence in dance exhibited in the quality of dancing and the groundbreaking choreographic work of Menaka Thakkar.

The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is well-known internationally and across Canada and in Toronto through annual touring nationally and an annual home seasons. In 2012-2013, Artistic Director Menaka Thakkar was honoured with the two major Canadian awards given to an artist in dance - The Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Arts and the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is the only Canadian company with a large ensemble of home-grown dancers who are graduates of our school. Our company dancers are skilled in many different Indian dance and western dance styles.

Canada's Premiere Indian Dance Company Presents Live-Streaming of "IN THE FURTHER SOIL"Available to Presenters

"In the Further Soil” illustrates the journey that MENAKA THAKKAR has forged in founding the first professional school of Indian dance in Canada as well as forming the first professional Indian dance performance company which became the first culturally diverse dance organization to receive funding from Canada Council for the Arts. The title of this production comes from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore in which he speaks of the Banyan Tree that not only grows in its own soil but reaches its roots to the further soil which is an apt metaphor for the growth of Indian dance in Canada through the activities of Ms.Thakkar. The 2015 encore show will feature 20 company dancers and students from the school performing in classical Bharatanatyam, Odissi and contemporary works.

How the LIVESTREAM project came to be:When Dr. Menaka Thakkar accepted her GOVERNORGENERAL’S AWARD FOR LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT INDANCE in 2013, she pledged to continue to make her art ever more accessible and affordable by streaming live or encoreperformances over the internet to multiple distant locationsnationally and internationally. Thanks to an Ontario TrilliumGrant her vision has become reality. Our new technologycan now deliver ground-breaking choreographic works, workshops, artist talks and performances not only to large urban centres, but also to small towns, culturally underserved areas and local neighbourhoods through a chain of appropriately equipped venues including theatres, film centres, public libraries, community centres,universities and colleges. Alternatively we can also bring our events right into the comfort and privacy of one’s own home through laptop computers, tablets and other mobile devices. In addition, internet streaming makes it possible to deliver these works of high art at far lower prices than their primary stage productions just as live streamed shows from the Metropolitan Opera or The National Theatre have done in movie houses.